Alexandre de Pontes

Alexandre de Pontes, known as Xandinho, was a Brazilian bodyboarder who lived from 1968 to 1993. He was one of the first Brazilians to win wide international recognition in bodyboarding and the first Brazilian to reach the final of the Pipeline world bodyboarding championship. He died in a car accident in Portugal while travelling to the airport for a flight home to Brazil, which ended a career that was still rising. Six-time world champion Guilherme Tamega names Xandinho as one of the two greatest bodyboarders of all time, alongside the American legend Mike Stewart, a judgement that shows how highly his peers rated him despite the shortness of his life.